When it comes to composing music on a DAW, how do you manage transitions between different sections? I can manage abrupt changes quite well with false endings but I feel like when it comes to weaving one section into another that I can't do this with the intricacy or subtlety that a group like Shpongle could.

You're going to have to be a little bit more specific on what exactly you mean, but when I'm composing EDM, I find that the key to transitions is figuring out if you're building up tension (e.g. transitioning to a buildup) or releasing it (e.g. the drop), and then place your elements accordingly. Sweeps and impacts are good for leading into and clearly establishing new sections, respectively. Adding and taking away elements of a track while maintaining similar motifs also works generally well. If you have more specific questions I'll be happy to see what I can do.

That can be a pretty loaded question; but the rule of thumb is that you have to create tension and resolution. This can be done either sonically or musically.

Sonically, it's usually things like risers and fallers, drum fills, a repeating element that speeds up to tell the listener something is about to happen, or a gradual change in texture like slowly opening the filter on a synth. Basically any change in texture can be used as a bridge to another section; you could filter, distort, narrow, widen, reverb, etc. and then change its properties in some way to either expand or contract the fullness of the song.

Musically, you'll have to apply some theory. For instance if you play the ever-common 1, 5, 6, 4 progression in C, so C, G, Am, F, our ears are tuned to expect you return to C at the end of it. So if you play that progression and maybe hold the F for an extra bar, our ears get anxious for that tension to be resolved, and you can use the transition back to C as a bridge to the next section. There's lots of ways to do this, like a V7 chord will always want to resolve back to the root, so if you play a G7 everyone will be uncomfortable until you, "finish" it with a C.

You can also do this using pitch, which is heard all the time in EDM. If you take a vocal or synth and slowly increase its pitch, it creates tension in our ears that wants to be resolved by landing on the octave above.

You can also smooth out transitions simply by leading in to them. A lot of songs will have the lyrics or notes of a chorus begin during the bar preceding the chorus, and then those notes lead in to and resolve on a pivotal word or note on the down beat of the first bar of the chorus.

Allowing your arrangements to flow together can help a lot too. Say you have a big lead synth during the intro, but then the verse starts and it takes up too much space and crowds the vocal. Instead of removing it completely, just filter it so it's a lot smaller, maybe pan it to the side, and now you have a musical element that's tying the intro and the verse together, making them feel different but still part of the same song.

There's a lot of ways to achieve transitions, they're definitely tricky but are important. And when in doubt just listen to some of your favorite tracks and analyze what they did.

You're going to have to be a little bit more specific on what exactly you mean, but when I'm composing EDM, I find that the key to transitions is figuring out if you're building up tension (e.g. transitioning to a buildup) or releasing it (e.g. the drop), and then place your elements accordingly. Sweeps and impacts are good for leading into and clearly establishing new sections, respectively. Adding and taking away elements of a track while maintaining similar motifs also works generally well. If you have more specific questions I'll be happy to see what I can do.

I make experimental music, I guess it's mostly sort of a blend of dark ambient and industrial. I'd link you some examples from my soundcloud but I don't think I have enough posts yet to actually be allowed to do this although I did link a track in my intro thread. Maybe a mod can clarify the rules around this if they see this thread.

A lot of my songs started with pads being used to create a build up before moving into a more rhythmic and aggressive section with industrial sounding percussion sometimes with a Delta Modulator being used on the melody or on the drums themselves. It isn't always the buildup that is the problem, sometimes its the climax itself that is but I'd love to weave different sections together in a more intricate way.

Allowing your arrangements to flow together can help a lot too. Say you have a big lead synth during the intro, but then the verse starts and it takes up too much space and crowds the vocal. Instead of removing it completely, just filter it so it's a lot smaller, maybe pan it to the side, and now you have a musical element that's tying the intro and the verse together, making them feel different but still part of the same song.

This is definitely helpful advice, I'll try putting it into practice with the piece I've just started on.

I've also played guitar around a decade so I know a bit about theory (though my knowledge isn't what it should be. A lot of the time I can just resolve things to the right note by ear (although with my music a bit of harmonic dissonance can be a good thing).

I find it useful to stagger the startings and endings of different parts. For example, don't start and stop everything at the same measure. Have some stuff go earlier and some stuff go later. Usually this will be percussion stuff if everything else is locked into pitches and chords.

I find it useful to stagger the startings and endings of different parts. For example, don't start and stop everything at the same measure. Have some stuff go earlier and some stuff go later. Usually this will be percussion stuff if everything else is locked into pitches and chords.

Do you use softer dynamics when you start to ease something out, say percussion?

+1 for the lead in, thats usually my go to method. Well that or a fill. But to offer something new...

Silence works great as well. As in give a tap tap on your snare then cut everything for 2 to 4 counts and bring the new section in full force right away after. Having an element decay, delay, or reverb tail over the silence is usually what I do but simetimes you don't need it.

Another great way to transition is to let another instrument take over the melody. For example if you have a piano playing a melody have that transition to background strings and then you can combine that with the new element you are moving to.